Biafran military resistance crumbled as Nigerian federal forces closed in, days before the secessionist state's formal surrender ended a brutal 30-month civil war.

The Gambia voted in a referendum to become a republic within the Commonwealth, replacing Queen Elizabeth II as head of state with President Dawda Jawara.

The Soviet Union's Lunokhod 1, the first remote-controlled rover to explore another world, begins its mission on the lunar surface.

A total solar eclipse swept across Mexico and the eastern United States, drawing thousands of scientists to study the solar corona.

Cambodian General Lon Nol overthrew Prince Norodom Sihanouk in a coup while Sihanouk was abroad, plunging Cambodia into the Vietnam War's chaos.

Egypt completed construction of the Aswan High Dam on the Nile, a Cold War-era engineering project that reshaped the river's ecology and Egypt's economy.

Apollo 13 lifts off from Kennedy Space Center bound for the Moon, unaware a damaged oxygen tank will nearly doom the crew days later.

An oxygen tank ruptured aboard Apollo 13 en route to the Moon, forcing astronauts to abandon their lunar landing and fight for survival using the lunar module as a lifeboat.

An oxygen tank ruptured aboard Apollo 13 en route to the Moon, crippling the spacecraft and forcing astronauts into a desperate fight for survival.

Two days after an oxygen tank explosion crippled Apollo 13, NASA and the crew executed a critical free-return trajectory burn to slingshot around the Moon toward Earth.

Apollo 13's crew safely returned to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific after a harrowing four-day fight for survival following an oxygen tank explosion.

Astronauts Lovell, Swigert, and Haise splashed down safely in the Pacific, capping a harrowing mission after an oxygen tank explosion crippled their spacecraft.

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Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on unarmed Vietnam War protesters at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine.

Amid the chaos following Prince Sihanouk's overthrow, Khmer Rouge insurgents intensified operations, deepening the civil conflict that would engulf Cambodia.

Vince Lombardi, the coach who built the Green Bay Packers dynasty and won the first two Super Bowls, died of colon cancer just months into his tenure with the Washington Redskins.

The Soviet Union launched Venera 7, which would become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data after landing on another planet.

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Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser died suddenly of a heart attack in Cairo, plunging the Arab world into mourning and reshaping regional politics.

Rock singer Janis Joplin was found dead in a Los Angeles motel room from a heroin overdose, just 27 years old.

The BBC aired the first episode of 'Monty Python's Flying Circus,' launching a comedy troupe that would permanently reshape sketch television.

Fiji became an independent nation within the British Commonwealth after nearly a century as a British colony, with Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara as its first prime minister.